Chess Teaching » Strategy

Morphy – Isouard (1858)

Chess Teacher — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:08:25 +0000

The game of this lesson between Paul Morphy and Carl Isouard that has been played in Paris 1858 is one of the most famous chess games.
It’s a very interesting short game and it contains at least five important chess lessons:
1. Develop you chess pieces quickly
2. Castling into safety
3. The strategic outpost at d5
4. Attacking a pinned piece
5. The use of an open file

Morphy_Isouard

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 The Philidor Defence 3.d4 Bg4 pins the knight, but also enables White to create an open file as we will see in the next moves

( Nowadays 3... exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Be7 is played more often. )

4.dxe5 Bxf3 5.Qxf3 dxe5 6.Bc4 threatens mate 6...Nf6 7.Qb3! threatens a mate in two as illustrated by the next three variations 7...Qe7

( 7... Nxe4?? 8.Bxf7+ Ke7 9.Qe6# like in the 1994 game of Shaun Press vs Tony Salvage )

( 7... b6?? 8.Bxf7+ Ke7 9.Qe6# like in the 1994 game of Marek Smilowski vs Daniel Martins )

( 7... Nbd7?? 8.Bxf7+ Ke7 9.Qe6# as played in 2003 in the game Karjakin Sergey [2576] — Sola Lluch Miguel Angel [2125] )

8.Nc3 White threatens eventually to use d5 a a strategic outpost 8... c6 prevents that White can position his knight on this important square. 9.Bg5 pins the knight 9...b5

( 9… Qc7 is better, but White still has a strong attack )

10.Nxb5! White gives up a knight in exchange for the two pawns and a strong attack. 10...cxb5 11.Bxb5+ Nbd7 resulting in another pinned piece. Black is almost unable to move a piece and can only try to defend.

( 11… Kd8 doesn’t help either. 12.O-O-O+ )

12.O-O-O!! Castling into safety and even more important attacking a pinned piece. All White’s pieces are developed, while Black’s pieces are hardly developed and unable to move. 12... Rd8 13.Rxd7!! Please note that the knight at f6 is pinned, but the most interesting part of this move is that White sacrifices the exchange to win a rook 13... Rxd7 14.Rd1 attacking a pinned piece again 14...Qe6

( 14… Kd8 is better, but not enough to hold the position 15.Bxd7 Kc7 +- )

15.Bxd7+ Nxd7? a mate in two. Do you see it?

( 15… Qxd7 is a better move, but look at what happens after this better move 16.Qb8+ Ke7 17.Qxe5+ Kd8 18.Bxf6+ gxf6 19.Qxf6+ Kc8 20.Rxd7 Kxd7 21.Qxh8 +- )

16.Qb8+ Nxb8 17.Rd8# 1-0

Make a plan

Chess Teacher — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 17:35:31 +0000

It sounds a little bit obvious, but the lack of a plan is the main reason for a lot of losses in chess. Planning is essential in chess. After you have learned the general ideas for the opening, the middle game and the endgame, you have to create plans in order to win the game.
We can distinguish several kind of plans. Jeremy Silman starts by looking for the imbalances in the position and then the plan is to use and enlarge (one of) the positive imbalances.
Other plans are more related to finding the right squares for your pieces and then the plan is to find a way to get your pieces on these squares.

The most important thing is that you have a plan. Without a plan your moves will be incoherent and you will be just moving your pieces. Having a plan will result in more wins.

When playing chess you should always have a plan, but don’t stick to rigid to it. Your opponent also has a plan and you have to take his moves into account. Some players tend to play their moves but neglect the moves of their opponent and when the threat becomes visible it is often too late to do something about it.

More chess lessons (in the right order to study) can be found by means of the chess lessons index page and an example of looking ahead can be found in the game Kasparov – Topalov (1999).

Fischer – Taimanov 1971

Chess Teacher — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 09:50:30 +0000

One of the most famous games showing the Bishop versus Knight endgame is game number four in the quarterfinals of the candidates match between Robert James Fischer and Mark Taimanov.

Fischer_Taimanov

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Qc7

( The Flohr variation of the Sicilian Defence. This isn’t bad at all, but you may ask why Taimanov didn’t play 4 ...e6 The Taimanov variation. )

5.Nc3 e6 6.g3 a6 7.Bg2 Nf6 8.O-O Nxd4 9.Qxd4 Bc5 10.Bf4 d6 11.Qd2 h6 12.Rad1 e5 13.Be3 Bg4 14.Bxc5 dxc5 15.f3 Be6 16.f4 Rd8 17.Nd5 Bxd5 18.exd5 e4 19.Rfe1 Rxd5 20.Rxe4+ Kd8 21.Qe2 Rxd1+ 22.Qxd1+ Qd7 23.Qxd7+ Kxd7 24.Re5 b6 25.Bf1 a5 26.Bc4 Rf8 27.Kg2 Kd6 28.Kf3 Nd7 29.Re3 Nb8 30.Rd3+ Kc7 31.c3 Nc6 32.Re3 Kd6 33.a4 Ne7 34.h3 Nc6 35.h4 h5 36.Rd3+ Kc7 37.Rd5 f5 38.Rd2 Rf6 39.Re2 Kd7 40.Re3 g6

And now we have reached the most interesting part of this game. I advice to replay and annotate the remaining moves.

41.Bb5 Rd6 42.Ke2 Kd8

This allows White to trade the rooks. Is this a serious mistake (as mentioned by a lot of commentors) or are all the alternatives as bad. In addtion Taimanov was convinced that the resulting endgame was a draw.

43.Rd3 Kc7 44.Rxd6 Kxd6 45.Kd3 Ne7 46.Be8 Kd5 47.Bf7+ Kd6 48.Kc4 Kc6 49.Be8+ Kb7 50.Kb5 Nc8 51.Bc6+ Kc7 52.Bd5 Ne7 53.Bf7 Kb7 54.Bb3 Ka7 55.Bd1 Kb7 56.Bf3+ Kc7

Now White places his King on a6. Since c6 is attacked by the white bishop this makes it impossible for Black to move his king without giving up his pawn. 57.Ka6 Nc8 ( 57… Ng8 58.Bd5 Nf6 59.Bf7 Ne4 60.Bxg6 Nxg3 61.Be8 Ne2 62.Bxh5 Nxf4 63.Bf7 doesn’t help either. ) 58.Bd5 Ne7 59.Bc4 Nc6 60.Bf7 Ne7 61.Be8 Attacking both c6 as well as the pawn on g6 and placing Black in a Zugzwang 61... Kd8

( moves like 61... Nd5?? are very bad 62.Bxg6 Ne7 63.Bxh5 )

62.Bxg6 Nxg6 63.Kxb6 Kd7 64.Kxc5 resulting in this vey nice position. If Black tries to prevent the promotion of the pawns the white king will be able to capture Black pawns on the kingside.

64… Ne7 65.b4 axb4 66.cxb4 Nc8 67.a5 Nd6 68.b5 Ne4+ 69.Kb6 Kc8 70.Kc6 Kb8 71.b6 1-0

The next lesson in this series is about Zugzwang.

Rook and pawn versus rook endgame

Chess Teacher — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:46:09 +0000

A lot of information about the Rook and pawn versus rook endgame can be found in Wikipedia. This article gives a nice overview of the most important positions and methods to win or to hold the position.

It describes the following winning methods:

Pawn on the sixth or seventh rank
The king without the pawn cut off along a rank is an easy win
The king without the pawn is cut off from the pawn’s file is a far more complicated endgame (like we have described in the two previous lessons) and it gives the rule of five.

The rule of five is for positions in which the pawn is protected and the opposing king is cut off by files: Add the number of rank of the pawn to the number of files the defender’s king is cut off. If the sum is more than five, it is usually a win. Otherwise it is normally a draw.

The article also refers to the Lucena position and describes an alternate method to win for bishop pawns and central pawns.

The next lesson will show another famous game: Fischer – Taimanov 1971.

Rook pawn rook draws

Chess Teacher — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 17:50:45 +0000

In this lesson I only show eight diagrams of the rook and pawn versus rook endgame, but this time all the positions correspond to a draw if played properly. Are you able to hold these postions as Black.

The next lesson continues with this Rook and pawn versus Rook endgame. It will contain a useful link and learn you the rule of five.

Rook pawn rook endgame

Chess Teacher — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 17:22:58 +0000

The rook and pawn versus rook endgames are very important to study because these are the simplest versions of the very frequent occurring rook endgames.
Let’s have a look at the diagrams below. All these positions are a win for White, but do you know why?

This lesson will explain a part of this KRP-KR endgame.
As indicated above the starting postion of the diagram below is a winning postion for White even if it is Black’s turn to move. Note that Black’s king is unable to approach the white pawn.

Endgame

45.Kc4 The king has to approach Black’s rook and has to move to the next ranks in order to enable to push the pawn ahead.

45… Rc8+ 46.Kb5 and the king also has to be able to continue moving to the next rank without positioning itself in front of the pawn.

46… Rd8 47.Kc5 The king is still able to defend the pawn. Look at the white rook. It’s only purpose seems to be to cut off the black king.

47… Rc8+ 48.Kb6 and White’s king keeps marching on.

48… Rd8 49.Rd1! This is the moment we have been waiting for. Note the distance of Black’s king to the pawn and the the distance of the white pawn to the sixt rank. 49... Kf6

( 49… Kf5 doen’t help either 50.Kc7 Rd5 51.Kc6 Rd8 52.d5 )

50.Kc7 Rd5 51.Kc6 Rd8 52.d5 Rc8+ 53.Kd7 Rc2 54.d6

( 54.Re1 is also winning. In general a pawn on the fifth rank and an opposing king that is cut off enables you to win unless the pawn is a rook pawn. 54... Ra2 55.d6 and on the sixth rank it is even better. 55... Ra7+ 56.Kc8 Ra8+ 57.Kb7 Ra2 58.d7 Rb2+ 59.Kc7 Rc2+ 60.Kd8 Rg2 61.Rc1 Rg8+ 62.Kc7 Ke5 63.d8=Q Rxd8 64.Kxd8 )

54… Ra2

( 54… Kf7 55.Kd8 Kf8 56.Rf1+ Kg7 57.d7 Rd2 58.Rf4 Kg6 59.Ke7 Re2+ 60.Kd6 Rd2+ 61.Ke6 Re2+ 62.Kd5 Kg5 63.Rc4 Kf6 64.d8=Q+ )

55.Kc7 Rc2+ 56.Kd8 Ke6 57.d7 Rg2 58.Kc7 Rc2+ 59.Kb7 Rb2+ 60.Kc6 Rc2+ 61.Kb5 Rb2+ 62.Kc4 Rb8

( 62… Rc2+ 63.Kb3 Rg2 64.d8=Q and White wins. For example by 64... Rg3+ 65.Kc4 Rg4+ 66.Kc5 Rf4 67.Rd5 Rf2 68.Qg8+ Ke7 69.Re5+ Kf6 70.Qg5+ Kf7 71.Re7+ Kf8 72.Qg7# )

63.d8=Q Rxd8 64.Rxd8 with an easy win.

See the lesson about mating with a rook.
In the next lesson I have added some (rather similar) diagrams that correspond with a draw.

Elements of chess strategy

Chess Teacher — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 13:10:26 +0000

In the wikibook Elements of chess strategy you can find an explanation of the most important ideas of chess strategy:

Development
Mobility
The center
The positions of the kings
Weak and strong squares
Pawn structure
Queenside pawn majority
Open lines
Minor pieces

We have seen most of these positional ideas before on Chess Teaching, but the mentioned Wikibook describes them in a rather different way. This enables you to see the ideas from different perspectives.

The information about the weak squares is a nice follow-up on our lesson about the weak pawn.

Weak squares are squares which cannot be defended by a pawn. These weak squares are thus open to occupation by an enemy piece. For White, weak squares can usually be found along the 4th and 3rd ranks, while Black’s weak squares are often on the 5th and 6th ranks. One of the qualities of a weak square is that it increase the value of the piece that occupies it. This is especially true for knights, which need advanced support points to be effective.

In the next lesson we will pay atention to the game Edgard Colle – John O’Hanlon, Nice 1930, which is one of the most used examples of the classical bishop sacrifice.

Weak pawns

Chess Teacher — Sun, 18 May 2008 09:55:42 +0000

In the previous lessons we have seen how we can take advantage of some positional characteristics of a chess position. Based on these lessons we try to locate undefended pieces, pieces that are placed on the same file, line or diagonal or an unsavely positioned king. This may enable us to find a nice combination.
But the positional characteristics of a chess position aren’t limited to this kind of combination related placements. This lesson is about another positional characteristic: the weak pawn.

A pawn is weak if

the pawn can not be defended by a pawn
and the pawn can be attacked

But there are different levels of weakness and a pawn becomes very weak if he is unable to move. This is one of the reasons that doubled pawns are rather weak. The back pawn is often unable to move. The front pawn is often hard to defend (by a rook).

Two adjacent pawns on for example c4 and d4 are called hanging pawns. They are not really weak, because they both have the ability to get protection from the other pawn by advancing. However this will make the other pawn weaker.

Regarding the position in the diagram both White and Black seem to have a lot of weak pawns, because they are all isolated and can not be defended by another pawn.

After looking more carefully we notice that almost all of White’s pawns can not be attacked by Black’s bishop, while White’s knight will still be able to attack all the pawns of Black.

White will even be able to create a passed pawn by playing 32.g5 hxg5 33.Nxg5.

If you you enjoyed this lesson about weak pawns you are probably also interested in other elements of chess strategy.

Creating a passed pawn

Chess Teacher — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 16:28:42 +0000

A passed pawn is a pawn that can not be stopped anymore by one of the opposing pawns. A passed pawn is rather valuable especially in the endgame. Passed pawns are dangerous and they have to be stopped. Assuming that the pawn can not be captured we can stop them by:

attacking the square in front of the pawn
or placing a piece in front of the pawn

The player with the passed pawn will try to use all the tactical weapons to eliminate the piece that prevents the pawn to queen.
But this will be something of a future lesson. Now we are going to create a passed pawn.

The diagrams below illustrate a rather famous example about the creation of a passed pawn.

At first sight the position looks about even, but White’s pawns are allready on the fifth rank.

1.g6

White is going to sacrifice a pawn.

1…hxg6 Black has to capture the pawn. 1…fxg6 is an alternative.

2.f6 and White is going to sacrifice the second pawn

2…gxf6 Black has nothing to chose

3.h6 and now White has created a passed pawn. This will be sufficient to win the game.

The next lesson will learn you the Kieninger trap.

Connected vs split pawns ending

Chess Teacher — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:07:14 +0000

In this chess lesson we are going to combine some of the knowledge of the key squares, the square rule and the square rule for two separated pawns.
First have look at the diagram on the left site.

It’s a draw. Can you see why?
And do you see that the game is won by White if the black pawns are removed from the board?

Endgame

1... Kf5

[Certainly not 1... b2+ because after 2.Kxb2 a1=Q+ 3.Kxa1 the game will be rather easy to win by White. This is a king vs. two split pawns ending that is also discussed in Silman's Complete Endgame Course. According to Silman the White king is "light-years away", and even though White's pawns look vulnerable, it is a rather easy win for White. But the easy win has everything to do with the fact that the pawns can not be captured by the black King which enables the white King to approach. Please note that in our starting diagram the white King is also unable to assist the pawns. 3...Kg7

( 3... Kh5 4.f5 Kh6 ( 4... Kxh4 5.f6 makes it very easy ) 5.Kb2 ( and certainly not 5.f6?? Kg6 ) 5... Kg7 6.h5 ( 6.Kc3 is a serious mistake, because we allow to capture the f-pawn and Black will still be in time to capture the h-pawn as well. ) 6... Kh6 7.f6 and now Black is unable to capture the pawn again 7...Kh7 8.Kc3 Kh6 9.Kd4 Kh7 10.Ke5 Kh6 11.Ke6 )

4.Kb2 Kg6 5.Kc3 Kf5 6.h5 Kf6 7.Kd4 Kf5 8.Kd5 Kf6 9.Ke4 Kg7 10.f5 ( 10.Kf5 may be easier to see with our knowledge about the key squares. ) 10... Kf6 11.h6 Kf7 12.Ke5 Kf8 13.f6 Now the white king is not needed anymore as we have seen in our lesson about the square rule for separated pawns.]

2.h5 Kf6 Remember the square rule. 3.Kb2 Kg7 4.f5 and for Black each King’s move will do 4...Kf6 5.h6 the only move resulting in a draw. 5... Kf7 6.Ka1 Kf6 7.Kb2 Kf7 8.Ka1 Kf6 9.Kb2 resulting in a draw. 1/2-1/2

Both White as well as Black didn’t have other options.

The next lesson is about the usefulness of a chess database.